Starflyer 59 "Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice" CD
[Tooth & Nail]
Yeah... what to make of this, what to make of this?  There's an asshole-ish part of me that wants to say, "Blah, this is terrible and these nerds only have their little niche of particular fans because they say, ‘All praise to Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour,' in the CD booklet.  I'll pass."  But I can't do it, and I'd be an idiot if I did.  Because there's the obsessive music fan part of me that's kind of like, "Hmmm, even though elements of this really rub me the wrong way, there's something about the atmosphere they've got going on that I kind of fuckin' dig here."  And you know what?  The more I listen to it... shit, I actually like this CD.  The 70's looking cover art is definitely in part due to some musical references that you can pick out in some of the music here, as there are bits and pieces of everything from prog rock to dark 80's new wave to shoegazer to modern rock, and the core trio is accompanied by additional help on violin, viola, cello and trumpet on sparse occasions to boot.  The first couple of songs are somber and have more of a contemporary spin going on, you know, sort of sounding like a bunch of guys who probably really like Radiohead but also really like The Beatles, but then a big shift comes with "Good Sons", which is a total new wave nod complete with synths, programmed drums, and even some handclaps!?  That kind of thing continues in "A Lists Go On", but the string arrangements and some of the more creative layering and subtle nuances bring it back towards the contemporary edge as well, so it's kind of walking a line there.  Later in the disc I start to be won over, starting with "A Good Living", where the use of acoustic guitars and tons of layering makes for an extremely lush and resonant composition.  This continues in the perhaps darker "Softness, Goodness", another keeper.  However, despite somewhat of a melancholy feel to much of the record, the music isn't what I would call depressing or anything.  Very curious.  I have to say that the recording is fucking phenomenal.  If I was slow to make up my mind about the songwriting, the sound quality is fucking great, no doubt.  Everything sounds lush, loud, and clear.  I have not one complaint.  Every tone is beautiful, everything is thoughtfully and intricately placed in the mix... it scarcely gets better than this.  I also commend the band for polishing things up to just the right degree.  They don't at all seem to be concerning themselves with trying to shoot for any kind of dated hipster sound, despite the fact that their music is absolutely drawing from a lot of influences that would be conducive to such an approach.  But had they gone that route I think it would've cheapened their delivery, so... good work.  Visually it looks clean and consistent, and fairly minimal too.  The typefaces and style of the artwork definitely have a 70's kind of thing going on, making it look like a record that my parents would've had in their collection or whatever.  The inner pages are fairly scarce on content, with just a little additional art and credits, no lyrics or anything.  You can understand most of the lyrics but nothing hits me one way or the other, and that's fine.  Actually, since they're a christian band, that's good, because that means that if there are religious references (I only caught one) there's nothing so overt that it alienated me, and that's great.  I think these guys have been around for over 10 years now, and while I'm not sure I'd want to check out their past work as a result of enjoying this record, I'll certainly hang onto this one for moodier (yet chilled out) days and nights.  Not bad.  It's funny, the first time I played this I stopped it after like a minute and decided to listen to it again later because I didn't like it (I think the keyboards in opener "The Contest Completed" were just too much).  But, hey, they did the trick in the end.  They got me.  There are a couple of songs that aren't quite my thing, but overall I find this to be an enjoyable and admirably executed affair. (7/10)
Running time - 32:05, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: A Good Living, Softness, Goodness, Something Evil]
Tooth & Nail Records - http://www.toothandnail.com

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